Poland decided to stop sending new weapons to Ukraine, in a policy backtrack from ruling party PiS that has been seen as last minute grasp to far right votes ahead of October general election.
A government spokesperson and prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki both said in the previous days that Poland will fulfill its present obligations but won’t go on with new weapon supply.
Morawiecki mentioned on a Wednesday interview with private network Polsat that Poland will focus on its defence needs and will look to restock its own weapon’s reserve.
“We are no longer transferring any weapons to Ukraine because we are now arming ourselves with the most modern weapons,” he told Polsat.
Poland has been one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine since the invasion of Russia in 2022. However, recently the country had a small fallout with Ukraine over grain import. Poland, with Hungary and Slovakia, is against favourable terms for import grain in the European Union, fearing a hit to its own agricultural sector. The decision to momentary stop sending weapon should not linked to this issue.
However, Poland is gearing towards general election on October 15 and Morawiecki’s right-wing party PiS is trying to cope with opposition from the right, with the Confederation party gaining support running an anti-Ukraine campaign.
The decision to adopt a tougher stance on Ukraine has been seen by analysts as a way to appease voters ahead of the elections. Overall, Poland may not have other weapons to give Ukraine anyway and the ruling party is using this excuse to rile up its rhetoric and stop the opposition from gaining traction.
